


Fragile Peace

by magicalbean



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Gen, Mute Link, Post-Game Story, Romance, canon but with my brain gremlins sprinkled in to fill the gaps. as a treat., i am a fiend for romance so there will eventually be lovey stuff but first - PLOT, mostly canon compliant but like BOTW timeline only, plot picks up shortly after endgame BOTW, teen rating for some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22316218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicalbean/pseuds/magicalbean
Summary: At last, the storm has passed. The time has come to rebuild what was lost. Zelda takes the future of her kingdom into her own hands, but there are some who still linger who wish to see her mission fail. The princess and her knight find that, even with Ganon gone, evil still lurks in Hyrule.[ Post-BotW ]
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Fragile Peace

Darkness.   
  
Putrid and chaotic, it swirls around her. She fights against it with all she has but it seeps into her pores. _Corruption_. It’s spreading – it always is, but it’s spreading to her now, too. She bats it away like it’s a leech. It burrows deeper.   
  
_Darkness is not the absence of light,_ her mother’s journal had said. _It is a testament to the existence of light. Know this, and you can conquer any shadow._   
  
Never had the light felt so far away. How is she supposed to believe in what she cannot see? How can she fight the embodiment of evil when it exists in everything around her?   
  
It is not water. It is not _tangible_. But the darkness rises to her chin, and she knows it will drown her. She takes in a deep breath, just barely remembering to close her eyes, the darkness rises – _rises_ \--   
  
Zelda snaps upright.   
  
Chest heaving, cold sweat soaking her clothes and sheets. Numb hands feel her arms and face for any signs of corruption. All she feels is her own clammy skin.   
  
_Where am I?_ she nearly asks aloud. It’s dark, but not the kind from her nightmares. Starlight and torches illuminate a bit of the large, circular tent. Zelda shakes when she holds her breath again. Anxious eyes comb through the entirety of the tent. It seems there are no other occupants but for one Hylian – the stable master, who has fallen asleep in his chair at the desk.   
  
From the open tent flaps comes a faint orange glow. Zelda fumbles with the covers and follows the light.   
  
He sits with his back to a woodpile in front of a fire, twiddling a charred stick in the flames. Just seeing him there, relaxed as he is, keeps her panic from building. If Link senses no danger, then she is safe. Perhaps someday her subconscious will understand that.   
  
“You can’t sleep?” she wonders.   
  
Link lifts his head to see her. He shakes his head.   
  
“Neither can I,” Zelda says unnecessarily. She finds a patch of grass to settle down on beside him, cradling herself in her own arms. Eyes close. She is exhausted. It’s been weeks now and she has yet to sleep through the night. At first, it was from the relief. She was alive, Link was alive, Ganon was gone forever. Order had been restored. She had so much to see, so much to _learn_ from her century-long absence. But relief flickered away into nothingness. Ganon’s destruction had not rid Hyrule of its scars, it had not brought back her loved ones, it had not cleansed her of her hundred-year fight.   
  
Zelda left the ruins of her home believing that it was all over and she could rest at last. But night after night, she finds herself back in the bowels of the castle, fighting. _And failing._   
  
A whoosh hits her ears and a warm fabric sweeps around her shoulders. At first, she thinks it’s a blanket. She peeks out, touches the cloth, and she realizes it’s Link’s travelling cloak. It’s worn and frayed at the edges, but the material is thick. It smells like Epona. It probably smells a bit like sweat and dirt too, but it’s been a while she since had a proper bath herself; she’s acclimated to it. Zelda huddles up and tugs it around her for warmth. Only once it envelops her does she realize how much she’d been shivering. She shuts her eyes again, hoping she might feel rested without giving herself to slumber.   
  
“Aren’t you cold now?” she murmurs.   
  
Link reaches for her hand beneath the cloak. His thumb swipes the back of her hand, parallel to her knuckles. It’s one of his tracing signs that he taught her so very long ago. A horizontal line for _no_. A cross for _yes_. She’s not sure if he plans to pull his hand away; Zelda squeezes it between both of her own, and he lets her.   
  
Somewhere out in the plains, crickets hum and the grasses sway. Fire crackles, logs splitting and charring to keep the night at bay. A restless horse snorts in its stall. Zelda rests her head on his shoulder. He breathes, his heart beats. The wind blows his hair against her cheek. All these things, she thought she appreciated. Zelda knows better now. Because now she knows how easily this serene night could be shattered.   
  
Once, this could have lulled her to sleep. Now she is afraid that she may wake to find it’s slipped through her fingers again.   
  
“Is Kakariko far from here?”   
  
_No_ , he swipes again.   
  
“Let’s go, then,” she says. “We’re awake. The weather’s fair. Why not ride?”   
  
A swipe back and forth – a very firm _no_. Zelda lifts her head, hoping she is not too delirious to be indignant. Link frees his hand from hers to speak freely.   
  
_You need rest. Epona, too_ , he signs.   
  
“I’m fine, I’m…” She rubs at her eyes. Bites back the yawn building in her throat. Warmth has stolen her sense and made her drowsy. If she had the energy left, she would fight it. “I’ll rest once we reach Kakariko.”   
  
Link only looks at her. He is not one for smiles, and he has none for her tonight. He nudges her drooping head with the corner of one knuckle. She makes a tiny noise of discontent… and realizes how much she sounds like a child.   
  
When he throws a bucket of water over the fire, she does not protest. She does not complain when he picks her up, or lies her atop the sheets of her cot, or tucks her under the covers. For a moment, only a moment, she thinks his fingertips might linger on her hair. She hears a footstep, and knows he’s turning away. Leaving her.   
  
She grabs his sleeve. The sound that leaves her is… anguished. Zelda wishes it were not so – it ill befits a princess to show so much weakness. She has lived through worse than this. Yet the thought of him leaving now, just when she is about to be consumed by her night terrors in Ganon’s maw once more… her courage fails her.   
  
“Please,” she begs weakly, “don’t go.”   
  
Link carefully pries her hand from his arm and sets it down on the bed. He walks away.   
  
Tears well up in her eyes. She is so exhausted, her strength is sapped, and all she has left is this weakness and terror. Zelda has never felt so alone in her life.   
  
From the corner, she hears… rummaging? The waking world is fast fading, but Zelda opens her eyes to peer out at the tent. Link has closed the flaps and secured them. He walks towards her with a wooden chair under one arm. The chair falls to her bedside, and Link sits down. His hand closes around her wrist. The touch is gentle, but it calms her. He gazes into her eyes, and she needs no words – verbal or not – to know what he’s thinking.   
  
_I’m here. You can rest now._   
  
And it brings her some comfort to know – even if she’s plagued with another night of twisted dreams, she will wake with Link by her side.

**Author's Note:**

> what is UP yall its 5 AM i haven't slept or done homework but I decided to write a fic! Insomnia Bean has plotted out content for abouttt 5 chapters? Will I write them? Who knows! Definitely not me! Anyway I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, "Stability" (pun intended)


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